Tower Defense games are fairly common these days but despite the rigidity of their design, developers still manage to take the basic tenets of the genre and make some interesting titles. Sanctum, Anomaly: Warzone Earth, and Plants vs. Zombies have all been distinct and enjoyable games. Even Orcs Must Die! and Dungeon Defenders did something unique by adding third-person action to the mix.
Shad'O has arrived, attempting to give the tower defense genre a new setting, however, gamers may find it a familiar and all-too-traditional experience.
Shad'O (PC) Developer: Okugi Studio Publisher: Okugi Studio Released: September 4, 2012 MRSP: $9.99
In Shad'O, you control William, a young boy who is attempting to fend off the forces of forgetfulness and shadows to retrieve his memories before they're lost forever. Aided by his childhood teddy bear, William will travel to different locations of his dreams in an attempt to beat back an ever increasing fog that threatens to cut the link to his past. In each level, there is a memory that the shadows are trying to destroy and that's what he must protect with his army of patchwork tower companions. But as William salvages his memories, is he better to have left some things forgotten?
Shad'O brings a few interesting dynamics to the tower defense genre, most notably the fog that envelopes most of the level. At the start of a level, most of the map will be swathed in fog and it's only by placing units that you can disperse some of the gloom. It's an interesting dynamic -- you'll be forced to place units not only for their offensive abilities but also so you can get a better idea of what type of enemies are incoming along the main paths. You can place units near some light beacons at the beginning of a level and from those points, you can expand your forces to reveal the rest of the map. Maintaining these units is vital as it's easy to get swamped with foes after losing advanced positions.
However, at its core Shad'O really is fairly traditional tower defense -- enemies attack along a strict path (or paths) and the units you place are all fairly standard (e.g., the shooter, the laser, the area-of-attack, and so on). At the start of the game, you have the three basic offensive units and the primary energy retrieval unit; it's only after the first boss that you'll be given access to more units with further ones unlocked later on. Shad'O isn't great at giving feedback as to what towers are effective against certain enemies. With the necessity to reveal more of the enemy path, expanding quickly with lots of cheap units reaps as much reward as careful placement of more expensive and powerful ones.
While units can be upgraded to more powerful and effective versions, you have to unlock the ability to do so after completing a level. You have the option of unlocking up to another two tiers of upgrades or choosing a variety of spells to gain access to instead. Upgrading a unit in battle is as easy and the fact that each upgrade only costs the same as the initial unit cost, it's an appealing route to take. However, many of the spells are invaluable to progression and can greatly swing the tide of a battle in your favor. Indeed, one particular spell that removes any stun effects on your units became the only way I was able to beat the first boss level.
Having a single unlock after completing a level is a big gamble, but a poor choice will stay with you for the rest of the game. Once you complete a level, you're able to replay it in Nightmare Mode which ramps up the difficulty and rewards an extra unlock. These become vital -- stacking spells and upgrading units are a must as the game offers an increasingly steep challenge in later levels. Also available are bonus stages where there is a tweak on the gameplay formula; the reward here is a special permanent bonus or buff. Levels might have a random draw aspect to the units available or a particularly inventive scenario where you have a battlefield full of fully upgraded units but are only able to activate them one at a time.
Shad'O never takes advantage of its dream setting to make some really interesting levels; despite some eye-catching backgrounds, the levels are always on a 2D plane and look fairly similar. Likewise, the unit and enemy design are fairly standard. The friendly units are like patchwork toys made up of mismatched felt, but there's some charm to see them fully upgraded with their out-of-place weaponry. The enemy units are blobs of inky shadow with little to tell them apart. When they're bunched up in a crowd, it can be hard to tell what specifically is incoming. The cutscenes are composed of still images with little animation but they convey William's sense of confusion and his gradual understanding of why his memories have been disappearing.
Shado'O offers a solid tower defense experience, albeit one that doesn't take advantage of its unique setting and story. While mechanically sound, despite some frustrations when it comes to unit placement around the fog, it's nothing you probably haven't played before.
Tower defense newcomers should head for Defense Grid: The Awakening, but if you're looking for a different style of game in the genre, Shad'O might give you some fun hours.
THE VERDICT
6.5 /10
Alright: May be slightly above average or simply inoffensive. Fans of the genre should enjoy them a bit, but a fair few will be left unfulfilled. Check out more reviews or the Destructoid score guide.
2D action game Mercenary Kings continues to look nice in the latest screenshots posted by developer Tribute Games in a Kickstarter update. As you'll recall, the title was successfully funded last year and managed to raise eno... more
Gaming Heads latest in their Valve toy line-up is the one and only Gordon Freeman from the Half-Life series. The 1/4 scale figure comes in at 20 inches tall, and features the voiceless hero with his iconic crowbar and the ali... more
You would be forgiven for thinking that the very public example of professional League of Legends player IWillDominate getting banned due to unruly behavior would have made people think twice before repeating history. Not so:... more
Despite already suffering a delay to August, Ubisoft has promised that the PC version of Splinter Cell: Blacklist won't be suffering from the publisher's poor track record in same-day console/PC releases.
Speaking to Rock, Pa... more
Deathmatch Made in Heaven, Max Payne 3's final piece of downloadable content, will launch tomorrow in North America -- marking the fulfillment of the DLC schedule that Rockstar laid out several months ago.
As w... more
While it hasn't been confirmed by Rockstar, the PC version of Grand Theft Auto V has appeared on online retailer Amazon's sites in the UK, France, and Germany. There's still no official word on a PC release for GTA V, despite... more
After the Uncharted card game, Namco Bandai's announcement of an impending North American release for Tekken Card Tournament seems all too normal to me. In the coming weeks, the card battle game will be out as a free-to-play ... more
This isn't the first time Electronic Arts-published games have seen crossover items, and it will almost certainly not be the last. Those who have played Mass Effect 3 and still have the save file to prove it need only buy a ... more
At first glance, you may find Special Forces: Team X to be just another in today's long line of military shooters. I mean, for God's sake, it's actually called Special Forces: Team X. I don't think titles get more generic tha... more
Capcom made the decision to bring Street Fighter X Megaman solely to PCs initially so that they could test the download count -- but despite the fact that they still could have tested it for Mac based systems, they never repr... more
It's going to be tough to talk about Krunch without also mentioning games like Super Meat Boy or VVVVVV, so I'll get it out of the way now: Krunch is similar to these titles in that you will die. A lot. You will also, however...more
Way back through the mists of time -- 1990 to be precise -- fans of the relatively new RTS genre were treated to what is sometimes retroactively considered to be one of the world's first MOBAs, Herzog Zwei. Players commanded ...more
Hey, Television! Check out Double Fine’s latest game for Xbox Live Arcade: Kinect Party. In fun-loving Double Fine fashion, it was released for free upon launch in mid-December until the New Year. For those of you who d...more
DmC: Devil May Cry is an insult. It insults the fans, who have loyally supported Capcom through thick and thin, and it insults the legacy of a most respected action series. Ninja Theory has spat upon one of the last pure name...more
The original Fire Pro Wrestling was a game specifically for the hardcore fans of pro wrestling. I'm not talking about the male soap-opera that is WWE, but a more brutal version such as some of the Japanese wrestling circuits ...more
Joe Danger was the definition of a perfect downloadable game. It was reasonable priced, it was tons of fun, and it was packed with content.
Naturally, since a lot of other people felt the same, a Special Edition version of th...more
The time has finally come. After numerous delays, and nearly a year of waiting after the Japanese release, Max Anarchy, known internationally as Anarchy Reigns, is finally here.
Conceptually, the game is basically a "Greatest...more
Imagine for a moment that you have the power to make videogames. OK, I guess you don't have to imagine. With tools like Unity, Game Maker, and Flash on the market readily available to anyone who puts their mind towards snaggi...more
Seduce Me is only on our radar because it was developed by folks who worked on the Triple-A Killzone franchise, and later denied a place on Steam's Greenlight project. We likely wouldn't have noticed it, much l...more
Maybe it's just me, but it seems that every once in a while there is a game that comes out that makes a statement about MMORPGs. That the best part of those games is the player-versus-player segments. In 2007, there was the "...more
The Sims series will always have expansion packs. It's part of the experience to slowly add more content to the game. Usually these packs add active content like new town locations, new interactions, or new career paths for y...more
I've just saved the planet, and I couldn't be less enthused about it. A New Beginning is a self-styled eco-thriller with a spot of time travel and science fiction thrown in for good measure. It launched in Europe a couple of ...more
It used to cost ridiculous amounts of money to record video from other sources, especially in HD. But these past few years companies like Hauppague, Pinnacle, AVerMedia and others have released affordable boxes that...more
A game that combines ideas from both Minecraft and Team Fortress 2 sounds like it would be a match made in heaven. The LEGO-style buildings and aesthetics combined with the multi-class gameplay should be right up my alley.
Ye...more
Capcom's treatment of the Mega Man franchise these past couple of years has been atrocious. When Street Fighter kicked off its 25th anniversary, Capcom clearly laid out its plans for the coming year, which included key softwa...more
Pirates and Vikings have a lot of things in common. Pillaging, raiding, exploration, and adventure -- these are their shared loves. One could be forgiven for assuming that they might even be able to get along, but that is mos...more
“How dare you? HOW DARE YOU! How dare you review a Lord of the Rings game without having every film box set in a display case! HOW DARE YOU review a MOBA without having been yelled at and debased by 12-year-olds for m...more
It’s not very often that I get a chance to review something bad. It’s even rarer for me to come across headphones that I just hate. Truth is, most things that you spend $50 or more on are pretty good. Mediocrity c...more